Coming from Fl., spring bulbs are new to me. So I spent this past spring and summer seeing what I had. The former owner of the house had stuff ALL over the place. Daffodils all over the place. After they bloomed and the foliage wilted, I dug up most of them and massed them in two tight beds in front of my front porch. The tulips were in two tight beds in an area out under a big sickamore tree out front. Deep purple. BEAUTIFUL! I didn't touch these. About 30 in each group. Then Two big areas of giant Assulym(SP?)Big beautiful heads on long ,strong stems. But they smell like onions!! After they did their thing and the foliage wilted they got dug up and moved to surround a red maple up on the hill about 150' from the house not far from the road. They can do their thing up there. And then I had glads ALL over the place. Mostly out in the bed by the sickamore tree. One good thing, they were all the same kind. A little over a week ago the foliage was yellow enough to cut and move most of them. I mass planted them in front of the sickamore bed. Didn't have the first lilly or irises of any kind. So I went on a hunting and digging mission. There is an OLD abandoned general store on a side road about a mile from the house that has all kinds of plants around it. Saved myself a LOT of money. Got about 20 light purple bearded irises. At least 200 yellow-orange lillys. About a dozen orange wild butterfly plants. Plus I got six cittings from a beautiful hardy hydrania(SP?)bush. All six have rooted and are in one gal. pots under my oak tree out back. And then I ordered from Spring Hill and Brecks. Not a bunch. Just enough to see what their products are like. From SH I ordered the reblooming German irises (12), and a big bunch of cone flowers. The irises came last week. VERY big and healthy. Already planted them. Will receive the cone flowers early spring. From Brecks I ordered The giant lilly collection. I have the perfect place for them out back by my workshop. And all of this from a ROSE freek! I figure it will take about two or three yrs for everything to come together (about 75 to 100 roses bushs of all types along with everything else). I won't have a big "formal" garden. Just an easy flow garden. I moved up to the N.GA. mountains to retire (well kind of semi. I do a little side work on MY terms) and I plan on enjoying it. After a working life of Drywall hanging, finishing and texturing I can sit back, smile and say, "Thank you Lord."

Hello Everyone! Boy Have I been busy! Toni, I pulled the Adeniums out of the container to see what was up.. They are actually in like a 3" pot, and are about 2" above the bottom of the container.. so I don't have to worry about root rot! The containers don't have drain holes. I am going to look around to see what I can come up with for shallow. :) Thanks! I need to do some reading up on them and see about a hair cut. LOL! Nancy~ Thank you! Your advice is always welcome! I have a huge shrub I was considering and figured I'd keep a close eye on them when we get hot! Here it is.. Please excuse the mess and the neighbors trailor.. LOL! Spring cleaning and getting gradens ready.. stuff everywhere..LOL!! I was thinking of hanging it on the east side. My patio faces west and gets the intense late day sun. so don't have alot of options for outside. Thanks everyone!! JoJo

So many good suggestions still coming in--appreciate that. I won't be ordering until after Thanksgiving (or maybe after Xmas), so I'm open to any more beautiful ideas. I'm looking them all up. Some I kinda know. But I don't know much of anything about Mrs. Dudley Cross, cherrykist. Is it hardy in Zone 6? HMF say Zone 7--but I know it is sometimes rather conservative on hardiness. And I'm not sure about its height since HMF says 3-5 ft (or something like that). What is your experience--does it stay around 3 ft? It is a lovely rose, but not a type I have ever seen, so I'm not sure what to think about it. It's really cool looking at all the gorgeous pics--thanks everyone. Kate

Thanks everyone! Since Ill be growing the scion from seed, (unless I get real good and decide to invest in good budwood or make friends with someone with a nice collection...) its not a bad thing that the Flying Dragon will take so long to be graftable. Ill read up on Swingle, FD just seems the most used except where the soil is over-sandy There is another website that apparently spammed here and got banned, because I was asked not to post their name, but they state their FD seeds are not available until winter. I saw Tree Source, and was really impressed with the website, but I figured the minimum seedlot was 1L since they state they pack them that way. I dont think my fiance would tolerate that much crazy :-) as much as Id like to have fruit sooner, and might break down in a year or 2 and buy a tree, I dont know a thing that I havent learned here or on the internet this month. It seems a lot of the new container owners get a citrus, and then have the steep learning curve of keeping a good, mature plant alive. Im a mostly self-taught gardener, and the only maturing tree I have is a Nana Pomegranate. Shes not keeping fruit yet, but she couldnt be much less picky!